


Progressive Relaxation

by pauraque



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-06-21
Updated: 2009-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-27 10:25:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/294741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pauraque/pseuds/pauraque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your knees are not your enemies, they're children having tantrums.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Progressive Relaxation

**Author's Note:**

> I believe Neville is supposed to have married Hannah, but I reject that reality and substitute my own.

Neville finds himself gradually awake. It is summer, there is no hurry. He glances, he reaches; Luna is still quite asleep. Lying on his back, he tenses up his neck, he holds it, he breathes in deeply.

_Breathing in, I notice my neck._

He lets it out, the tension drains.

_Breathing out, I love my neck._

He thought it was silly at first. He felt silly doing it, giggly and skittish as a child asked to be serious. But he isn't a child anymore.

_Breathing in, I notice my shoulders._

_Breathing out, I love my shoulders._

Isn't it cheapening though, isn't it an overstatement -- can you really _love_ your shoulders?

_Breathing in, I notice my chest._

_Breathing out, I love my chest._

And he used to hate his chest, he did, it was too fat and he turned away when he was changing clothes, like a girl hiding her breasts.

Luna does not hide her breasts when she changes in front of him, though she used to, she said, tucking back her hair. She used to because they were too small. She laughed, and they laughed in bed; he kissed her breasts and she kissed his.

_Breathing in, I notice my stomach._

_Breathing out, I love my stomach._

And as he holds the muscles tight, his stomach clenches in and gets smaller, the way he used to wish it was. As he lets it out, his body relaxes into its proper shape, its proper size. And he thinks of Luna's arm over him, caressing his stomach as he strokes himself, as they lie close and easy.

He goes on, and is careful to spend time on his knees, which often hurt him these days, for she said, "You must still love your body even when it hurts." Her softness disguising an adamance that he never noticed until they were adults. "More so when it hurts. Your knees are not your enemies, they're children having tantrums..."

As he finishes, she stirs, and she wakes up smiling. He draws close to her, and, at home in himself, he is smiling too.


End file.
